Chapter 166
I was waiting for Jafa in the hallway outside the operating room. Looking out the window, I saw a dense crowd gathering outside the building. It was because of the news of Anguis Regina’s injury.
"What the hell is going on here! Ho— no, wait... Anguis got shot?"
Jafa came running down the stark white hallway. Behind him followed an Equessian mercenary.
"She tried to kill herself, so I shot her. I did well, didn’t I?"
I tilted my head to the side. Jafa staggered as if in shock.
"Anguis is an idol! An idol!"
"With today’s technology, biological regeneration is nothing. And she’s got plenty of money."
As I spoke, I observed Jafa. Agitated, he raised his long fingers and pointed at me accusingly.
"I asked you to find someone. I didn’t tell you to injure them! Common sense—"
"If you needed common sense, you should’ve hired someone else. If you want to track Kinuan, you have to bury common sense in the ground and move forward."
Jafa fidgeted anxiously outside the operating room.
"If something happens to Anguis..."
"It’s just a gunshot wound to the knee. Nothing's going to happen. She'll heal without a scar. Honestly, if you were this worried, you should’ve assigned her a bodyguard and kept her under surveillance."
I snapped irritably. Jafa narrowed his eyes sharply.
"I respect Anguis Regina’s privacy. At least under the condition that I can contact her once a day."
"She expected me to come looking for her. Every time you hire an Akies Victima user, the same thing happens, doesn’t it? The idol runs away, and the detective tracks her down. Almost like she’s testing my abilities."
Jafa clamped his mouth shut. I twisted my lips into a smirk, enough to make my cheek twitch.
"...Your circumstances are none of my business. I won’t ask why you hired me to track Kinuan anymore. I've had my fill of complicated human affairs back in the Empire. So don’t meddle in my work either. Just pay me what we agreed on."
"If something like this happens again, you will have to use nonviolent methods. That’s not a request—it’s a warning."
Jafa spoke fiercely, adding a few words in Tajirun that sounded like curses.
"Then let me give you a warning too. I’m not your subordinate. If you keep cutting out all the context when giving me jobs, things like today will keep happening. If Anguis Regina is more than just an ‘important asset’ to you—if she’s truly a ‘precious person’—you should’ve said so from the start."
Jafa simply flicked his tongue out. My words must have hit the mark.
"I was the one who dragged you back into this world. The least you could do is show some respect."
"I never asked to be brought back to this shitty world."
"Luka, you're much more broken than I expected. Either way, here’s your payment. I keep my promises. I hope you do the same."
Jafa handed me a data chip.
I took the chip and walked past him. Jafa remained where he was, as if waiting for Anguis Regina’s surgery to be completed.
"Hoyot, Luka. Things are noisy outside, so you should leave quietly through the back door. A vehicle has been prepared."
Jafa had already returned to his usual tone.
'Anguis Regina and Jafa have some kind of relationship. They’re not just an idol and an employer.'
There was no need to dig into their connection right away. If it was relevant to my work, it would reveal itself naturally. If we spent enough time together, I'd figure it out whether I wanted to or not.
For now, my interest was in the data chip.
'The security chief at the time of Giselle’s disappearance.'
That security chief was still in Border City.
Beep.
I inserted the data chip into my terminal. A photograph popped up before my eyes, followed by a flood of background information.
...It was unexpected, yet at the same time, it was someone I had anticipated.
* * *
The official story was that Anguis Regina had broken her leg from falling down the stairs. Thanks to Jafa’s efforts to silence the matter, the truth was buried. If word had gotten out that a popular idol had been shot, all kinds of wild speculation would have spread.
I headed to the slums of Border City. There were no proper roads for vehicles to enter. The only paths were narrow alleys crammed between tightly packed buildings.
Even in broad daylight, the streets were littered with vagrants and beggars, sprawled out as if using the ground as their bed.
Thud! Thud!
Some were smashing their heads against the walls and the ground. Even with their skulls split open and blood flowing, they repeated the motion over and over. A common behavioral disorder among drug addicts.
"Kirit... Karat... Kururur..."
Hearing an unfamiliar sound, I turned my head. In a dark, damp alley with no light, a shadow wavered.
Squish, squish.
A homeless man wrapped in tattered rags staggered toward me. Thick, sticky bodily fluids oozed excessively from beneath him. As if triggered by this, others who had been lying on the ground started to rise and approach me, one by one.
Click.
I pulled an auto-tracking pistol from my coat. The moment the sleek, high-tech weapon appeared, those who had been closing in hesitated and stepped back.
The deeper I went into the slums, the wider the roads became, and I even spotted open spaces. The streets had a certain liveliness to them—though not in a good way. Gangs overflowing with energy in the worst sense of the word snickered and stole glances at me as I passed.
I came to a stop.
'This is the place.'
A building was leaking smoke of an undefinable color. The vibrant fumes seeped out from every crack—windows, doorways, even the fractures in the walls.
'A drug den.'
One of the worst places in any city. A haven for those who had already booked their one-way ticket to ruin. Next to it was a hospital, though it likely wasn't a place meant for actual treatment.
I stepped into the drug den. There wasn’t even a door at the entrance. No one ever ran away from this place, so there was no need to close anything off.
"Checking in?"
The man at the counter looked me up and down. He wore a complex mechanical filter mask—an essential piece of equipment for working in a place like this.
"I'm looking for someone."
"There are no people here. Just walking corpses."
I stared down the hallway. The doors were packed tightly together, giving me an idea of how cramped the rooms must be. Above, the ventilation system hummed softly.
"I'll leave quietly once I find them. There won’t be any trouble."
Instead of handing over a credit chip, I pulled out a small gold ingot. Gold was a recognized physical currency in Border City.
The man took the gold and nodded.
Step. Step.
I walked down the hallway at a steady pace. Each door had a small window, allowing a view inside.
Every room was identical. A bed, a toilet, and a television broadcasting meaningless programs.
The addicts inside sat or lay motionless like corpses. The physiological effects of the drugs seemed to be universal across species—nearly half the addicts were non-human. Most of them, however, were mammalian aliens, biologically similar to humans.
Creak.
I ascended to the next floor. The rusted iron stairs groaned unpleasantly under my weight.
As I walked down the corridor, I suddenly stopped. Something felt familiar. Taking a step closer, I peered inside to confirm.
I recognized the silhouette.
Clunk.
I pushed the door open.
A man sat hunched over on the bed. He was large, and his limbs were cybernetic.
Srrk.
Sensing my presence, he instinctively lifted his head. That rough, menacing face hadn’t changed with time.
—I like snakes. I want to meet a man like a snake. Once snakes coil together, they don’t come apart easily.
Anguis Regina’s song flowed from an old television. The screen was blurry, and the static was severe.
Drrrk.
I dragged a chair over and sat down in front of the man.
"Gabriel."
I called his name.
The one who had guarded Giselle Custoria until the very end was Gabriel. He had also been the head of Security Team 4 at G&G Cybernetics.
For a gang member from the lower sectors, you really climbed up the ranks, Gabriel.
Gabriel's eyes were vacant. He couldn't come to his senses easily.
"It's me. Luka—Lukaus Custoria. Do you remember me?"
A brief flicker of light passed through his otherwise dazed pupils.
I waited patiently for Gabriel's reaction.
"Lu… ka?"
Gabriel looked at me. His hair and beard had grown long like a savage's. Among the tangled mess of filth, nameless parasites crawled about.
"…Let's get out of here first."
"Good… boy."
Gabriel was in a severely weakened state. I reached out to lift him up. As I exerted force through my prosthetic hand, a faint vibration ran through it.
"Leave… me… be… I don't… deserve to live. I… I… I'm a co… coward… no… a wretch…"
"That's for me to decide after I hear your story."
"You're just… a hallucination. My conscience… taking your form…"
Drool dripped from Gabriel's mouth.
"I'm real. Drink some water and get a grip. Do you have any stimulants?"
I stood up and rummaged through the room.
"Lies… You came down from he… heaven to save me, didn't you? Heh… heh…"
Would I be in heaven? No, I'd be at the very bottom of hell.
I was about to say that, but I stopped. A strange, cracking noise had come from Gabriel's mouth.
Crunch.
Gabriel's body suddenly convulsed. His complexion turned deathly pale.
"Hey, you—"
I grabbed his jaw and forced it open. A shattered capsule tumbled out of his mouth. Just from its purple hue, I could tell it was a dangerous substance.
'Damn it, damn it!'
I shoved my fingers down Gabriel's throat to induce vomiting.
"Urrgh! Guh… Cough, cough."
Gabriel doubled over, retching up a watery mix of bile and diluted drugs.
But the drug had absorbed too quickly. His pulse and heartbeat were growing weaker by the second. What annoyed me even more was the faint smile of contentment on his face.
"You dumb bastard, if you survive this, you're fucking dead to me."
I clenched my fist tightly.
Bzzzzzt!
The circuits on the back of my hand lit up as the power output surged at an incredible speed.
Lazuli-21 was an exceptional prosthetic.
I swung my fist and smashed it into the wall.
Kwa-ang!
The wall exploded into countless fragments. Concrete debris scattered outward, striking pedestrians on the street. Screams erupted from the unlucky ones caught in the fallout.
Next to the drug den was a hospital. It probably wasn’t the kind that saved lives, but at the very least, it had medical staff and equipment.
Drrrk!
I hoisted Gabriel onto my back and cranked up the output of my legs. Vibrations pulsed around my feet, causing dust and pebbles to lift into the air.
Thunk!
I leaped straight toward the hospital building. Even though it was at least twenty meters away, the distance was no issue.
Kuururung!
I crashed through the hospital’s outer wall in a single bound.
“Keugh! Cough! W-Who the hell are you?!”
“Cough, cough.”
Several people had been caught up in the impact, but I didn’t care. I kicked and shoved aside anyone blocking my way as I moved down the hallway.
I checked the signs and headed straight for the operating room.
Inside, four medical personnel were dissecting a lump of flesh—whether it was a corpse or a living person, I couldn't tell. A quick glance at the operating table revealed an empty abdominal cavity. Beside it, freshly removed organs were steaming.
As expected, they weren’t here to practice medicine. Calling them "medical staff" felt questionable, but I had no better word for them at the moment.
Bang!
I yanked an empty operating table toward me and laid Gabriel on it.
"Save this man. He inhaled a purple drug at a drug den, and his vitals are rapidly deteriorating."
I explained the situation. The eldest of the so-called medical staff stepped forward hesitantly.
“W-Wait, this place is not for—”
I raised my auto-tracking pistol and aimed it at his head.
"If you fail to save him, all of you die here. Not that you'd have much to complain about. I doubt any of you are the type who can proudly tell your kids what you do for a living."
"You don’t seem to understand what you’re doing right now…"
The elder tried to argue. He was probably the most medically knowledgeable among them.
I pulled the trigger, aiming at the youngest-looking man in the group.
Bang!
Blood streamed down his face from the bullet hole in his forehead. He staggered for a moment before collapsing lifelessly.
"Go ahead, try telling me you can't do it again. You'll all drop dead one by one."
I warned them as I kicked the door leading to the hallway.
Bang!
The door flew off its hinges, crashing against the wall and crumpling.
I slowly closed my eyes and activated my auditory vision for a moment.
Clank, clank.
Armed gang members were coming up the stairs. The facility’s so-called security. They pressed their bodies against the corners of the walls, loading their firearms.
"Hoo…"
I exhaled a long breath as I opened my eyes.
…My lips kept twitching.
Yeah, I knew it. I was frustrated. This half-baked violence hadn’t satisfied my cravings.
I was a broken human. Fighting and violence—they were as fundamental to me as eating or lust. No, they were even harder to suppress. My mind couldn't withstand peace.
I had held back for long enough.